Dust removing arrangement for circular knitting machines



Jan. 3, 1967 R SCHMIDT 3,

DUST REMOVING ARRANGEMENT FOR CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINES Filed Sept. 15,1964 United States Patent 3.295 338 DUST REMOVING AEKRANGEMENT FORCIRCULAR KNITTING MACHENES Richard Schmidt, Stuttgart-Vaihingen,Germany, assignmto Franz Morat G.m.b.H., Stuttgart-Vaihingen, GermanyFiled Sept. 15, 1964, Ser. No. 396,584 Ciaims priority, applicationGermany, Sept. 18, 1963, M 58,231 Claims. (Cl. 66168) The presentinvention relates to a dust removing ar rangement for circular knittingmachines, and more particularly to apparatus for preventing dustdeveloped by thread passing through thread guides at the top of theknitting machine to settle in the working area of the knitting machine.

Circular knitting machines have a plurality of knitting stationsarranged around the circumference of the ma chine. At each knittingstation, a thread package is mounted on a spindle, and the thread isguided upwards to a support on which a number of thread guidescorresponding to the number of knitting stations are mounted. The threadpasses through the thread guides and then downwardly again to threadtransporting rollers, at least one of which is provided at each knittingstation of the circular knitting machine.

The thread guides on top of the machine are part of electric threadbreakage indicators which may indicate a thread breakage or stop themachine when one of the threads is broken, or when the thread supply onthe respective spindle is exhausted.

It is known to mount a housing on top of a central post projectingupwards from the machine and to place thread breakage indicating deviceswithin the housing, while the corresponding thread guides projectoutwardly from an annular wall of the housing. Due to the fact that thethreads for the several knitting stations have to pass through thecorresponding thread guides on top of the machine, substantial dust isdeveloped which drops in the region of the center of the machine, andmay settle on the working areas of the machine.

It is one object of the invention to prevent the settling of dustdeveloped in this manner on the machine.

Another object of the invention is to blow air outwardly from the centerof a circular row of thread guides on top of the machine so that dustproduced by threads passing through the thread guides is blown inoutward direction away from the machine and cannot settle on the same.

Another object of the invention is to place a blower which blows air intangential directions along the entire periphery thereof at the centerof the circle of thread guides on top of the circular knitting machine,so that the air stream produced by the blower reaches simultaneously allthread guides.

Another object of the invention is to mount the motor of the blower in adust proof inner chamber located within the annular row of thread guidesand thread breakage indicators.

With these objects in view one embodiment of the invention comprises aplurality of thread guides arranged in a circle, and means at the centerof the circle for blowing air outwardly past all thread guides andbeyond the same, so that dust produced by threads passing through thethread guides is blown away from the machine in outward directions andcannot settle at the working areas of the machine.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, housingmeans are mounted on an upwardly projecting support on top of themachine, and include an inner annular wall forming an inner chamber fora ice tangentially operating blower, and an outer wall forming anannular chamber surrounding the inner chamber and supporting a pluralityof thread guides which outwardly project from the wall and arecircumferentially spaced from each other. Both walls are formed withcircumferentially spaced openings so that air passes from the innerchamber into the outer annular chamber and through the openings in thesame. The air is guided by the openings, and preferably also by suitablyshaped wall portion of the housing toward the outwardly projectingthread guides and beyond the same in outward directions so that dustblown off the thread guides is carried away from the center of themachine and cannot settle on the Working areas of the same.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the inner chamber has aclosed chamber portion in which the motor of the blower is located, andanother chamber portion provided with an axial inlet, preferably coveredby a filter, so that the rotor of the blower sucks the air in in axialdirection and blows the air outwardly in tangential directions throughthe openings in the inner wall.

The outer wall preferably forms an annular gap with the inner wall, andpart of the air blown into the annular chamber passes below a freeannular edge of the outer wall where the thread guides are mounted sothat also the inner portions of the thread guides are passed by airstreams.

The novel features which are considered as characteristic for theinvention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. Theinvention itself, however, both as to its construction and its method ofoperation, together with additional objects and advantages thereof, willbe best understood from the following description of specificembodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary elevation illustrating the top of a circularknitting machine; and

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary axial sectional view taken along line XX in FIG.1 and illustrating an embodiment of the invention with which theknitting machine of FIG. 1 is provided.

Referring now to the drawing, and more particularly to FIG. 1, a housing16 is located at the top of a circular knitting machine, and carries aplurality of thread trans porting rollers 17 spaced about thecircumference thereof. The spacing between the transporting rollers 17corresponds to the circumferential spacing of the knitting stations ofthe machine and a thread 67 is transported by each transporting roller17 toward the needles which are located at the respective knittingstations. A thread guide 17a is mounted adjacent each threadtransporting roller 17.

Housing 16 carries a corresponding number of out wardly projectingsupporting rods 18 on which spindles carrying thread packages 61 aremounted. Each thread package 61 supplies the thread required at therespective knitting station.

At the center of the housing 16, a central post 21 upwardly projectingalong the main axis XX of the machine, is provided. A ring 63 has a hubportion secured to post 21, and a plurality of radially projectingcircumferentially spaced supporting rods 64 at whose outer ends threadguides 65 are mounted. A housing 62 is mounted on the top of post 21 andhas circumferentially spaced openings 71. A plurality of thread guides66 are mounted circumferentially spaced from each other and outwardlyprojecting from an annular outer wall of housing 62, one thread guide 66being associated with each knitting station, and correspondingly witheach thread package 61 and transporting roller 17. At each knittingstation, a thread supplied by package 61 passes through a thread guide65, upwardly toward a thread guide 66 and then down again to a threadguide 17a and to a transporting roller 17.

Supporting post 21 is shown broken off in FIG. 1 and actually the postis much longer in vertical direction so that the slant of the threadportion between each thread guide 66 and each thread guide 17a is muchsteeper than illustrated. Post 21 is hollow and mechanical forcetransmitting linkages and electric cables are guided through theinterior of post 21 into housing 62.

The construction of housing 62 is best seen in FIG. 2. An inner housing68 is mounted on top of post 21 and includes an annular wall 68a, abottom wall secured to post 21, a filter plate 72, and a transverse wall68a dividing the inner chamber 6817 into a lower chamber portion and anupper chamber portion. The rotor 690 of a tangential blower is locatedin the upper chamber portion, and the motor 69a is connected to rotor690 by a shaft located in a bearing'passing through a central opening inthe intermediate wall 68a. A flange outwardly projecting from thebearing is secured by screws to the intermediate wall filia' so that theblower and its motor are supported within the inner housing 68. Theflange construction seals the lower chamber portion from the upperchamber portion. The blower has no outer housing so that the rotor 69draws air in axial direction through the filter 72 and blows the airoutwardly in tangential direction along the entire outer peripherythereof. The annular inner wall 68a, has a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced openings or slots 70 communicating with theinner chamber portion surrounding rotor 69c. An outer annular wall 680surrounds the inner annular wall 68a and is spaced from the same. Aplurality of circumferentially spaced thread guides, forming port ofthread breakage indicating devices, are mounted at the lower annularfree edge of wall 680, outwardly projecting from the same in radialdirections. An annular gap is formeed between the inner annular wall 68aand the lower annular edge of the outer annular wall 68c. A top wall 68dextends between the upper annular edges of wall 68a and 680 and forms anannular chamber 74 with walls 68a and 680. The upper annular portion 680of wall 680 is outwardly curved and has a plurality of circumferentiallyspaced openings 71 which are downward and outward directed as indicatedby the two lower arrows in FIG. 2. Openings 71 are preferably slotslonger in circumferential direction, as best seen in FIG. 1. Theelectric cables guided through the interior of post 21 includesconductors for supplying a voltage to motor 69a, and also to threadbreakage indicators, not shown, controlled by thread guides 66, whichare pivotally mounted on wall 68a, and respond with a pivotal movementwhen no thread passes through a thread guide due to breakage of thethread or exhaustion of a package 61. This construction is known and notan object of the present invention.

A lower housing portion 73 has a bottom wall with a central openingsupported on a flange 21a of post 21. The upper edge of the lowerhousing portion 73 extends to the lower surface of the annular wall 68cso that the chamber 74 and the chamber 73a within the lower housing 73form a larger closed chamber. The outer wall of the lower housingportion 73 has openings through which thread guides 66 pass.

When motor 6% operates, rotor 69c draws air in axial direction throughfilter 72 and blows the air outwardly along the entire periphery thereofso that the air passes through the circumferentially spaced slots oropenings 70 into chamber 74 and from there through slots or openings 71in the direction indicated by the arrows. Due to the downward slant ofopening 74, and to the guiding of the air stream by the curved guideportion 63c, the air streams along the entire circumference of the outerannular wall 680 are downwardly and outwardly directed to blow any dustdeveloped by abrasion of the threads 67 passing through the threadguides 66 at an acute angle, beyond the thread guides and in outwarddirections away from the machine so that the dust cannot settle on themachine. Part of the air stream in chamber 74 passes below the loweredge of wall 681: and past thread guide 66 through the correspondingopenings 73b in the lower housing portion 73. Only a smaller part of theair streams produced by rotor 690 goes this way, but this is sufficientto remove any dust which may settle on thread guides 66 so that theremoved dust is further carried away by the strong air streams passingthrough openings 71 in outward radial directions.

It will be understood that each of the elements described above, or twoor more together, may also find a useful application in other types ofknitting machines, differing from the types described above. I

While the invention has been illustrated and described as embodied in anapparatus for removing dust produced by thread guides on top of acircular knitting machine so that settling of the dust on the machine isprevented, it is not intended to be limited to the details shown, sincevarious modifications and structural changes may be made withoutdeparting in any way from the spirit of the present invention.

Without further analysis, the foregoing will so fully reveal the gist ofthe present invention that others can, by applying current knowledgereadily adapt it for various applications without omitting featuresthat, from the standpoint of prior art, fairly constitute essenialcharac teristics of the generic and specific aspects of this inventionand, therefore such adaptations should and are intended to becomprehended within the meaning and range of equivalence of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a circular knitting machine including a support upwardlyprojecting at the top of the machine, in combination, housing meansmounted on the top of said support and including an inner annular wallforming an inner chamber open on top and having circumferentially spacedfirst openings and an outer annular Wall forming an annular chambersurrounding said inner chamber and having circumferentially spacedsecond openings; a plurality of circumferentially spaced thread guidesmounted on said outer annular wall outwardly projecting from the same;and blower means located within said inner chamber and adapted to suckair from the openings on top of said inner chamber and to discharge theair along the entire circumference thereof through said first openingsinto said annular chamber and through said second openings at saidoutwardly projecting thread guides and beyond the same so that dustproduced by threads passing through said thread guides is blown awayfrom the machine in outward directions.

2. An apparatus as set forth in claim 1, and including a filter forclosing said open top of said inner chamber so that the air drawn bysaid blower is filtered.

3. In a circular knitting machine including a support upwardlyprojecting at the top of the machine, in combination, housing meansmounted on the top of said support and including an inner annular wall,a bottom Wall, and an intermediate wall parallel to said bottom wall,said bottom and intermediate walls forming within said inner annularwall two inner chamber portions, the upper chamber portion being open ontop, said inner annular wall having circumferentially spaced firstopenings communicating with said upper open inner chamber portion, afilter wall closing said open top of said upper inner chamber portion,said housing means including an outer annular wall forming an annularchamber surrounding said inner wall and having circumferentially spacedsecond openings; and a plurality of circumferentially spaced threadguides mounted on said outer wall outwardly projecting from the same;and blower means including a motor located within said closed innerchamber portion and a rotor located within said open upper inner chamberportion for sucking air in axial direction through said filter wall andfor blowing air outwardly around the entire periphery thereof throughsaid first openings into said annular chamber and through said secondopenings toward the outwardly projecting portions of said thread guidesand beyond the same so that dust produced by threads passing throughsaid thread guides is blown away from the machine in outward directions.

4. In a circular knitting machine including a support upwardlyprojecting at the top of the machine, in combination, housing meansmounted on the top of said support and including an inner annular wallforming an inner chamber and having circumferentially spaced firstopenings and an outer annular wall forming an annular chambersurrounding said inner chamber and having circumferentially spacedsecond openings, said outer annular wall having a free lower annularedge forming an annular gap with said inner annular wall, and a top wallextending between the top edges of said annular inner and outer walls,and closing said annular chamber on top; a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced thread guides mounted on said lower annularedge of said outer annular wall below the same outwardly projecting fromthe same; and blower means located within said inner chamber for blowingair outwardly through said first openings into said annular chamber andpast said lower annular edge at said thread guides, and also throughsaid second openings toward the outwardly projecting portions of saidthread guides and beyond the same so that dust produced by threadspassing through said thread guides is blown away from the machine inoutward directions.

5. In a circular knitting machine including a support upwardlyprojecting at the top of the machine, in combination, housing meansmounted on the top of said support and including an inner annular wallforming an inner chamber and having circumferentially spaced firstopenings and an outer annular wall forming an annular chambersurrounding said inner chamber and having circumferentially spacedsecond openings, said outer annular wall having a free lower annularedge forming an annular gap with said inner annular Wall, and a top wallextending between the top edges of said annular inner and outer walls,and closing said annular chamber on top; a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced thread guides mounted on said lower annularedge of said outer annular wall below the same outwardly projecting fromthe same; a lower housing portion supported on said support and havingan open upper end bounded by an upper annular edge located adjacent saidlower annular edge of said housing means for closing said outer annularchamber, said lower housing portion having a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced openings through which the outer portions ofsaid thread guides project; and blower means located within said innerchamber for blowing air outwardly through said first openings into saidannular chamber and past said lower annular edge and through saidopenings in said lower housing portion along said thread guides, andalso through said second openings toward the outwardly projectingportions of said thread guides and beyond the same so that dust producedby threads passing through said thread guides is blown away from themachine in outward directions.

6. In a circular knitting machine including a support upwardlyprojecting at the top of the machine, in combination, housing meansmounted on the top of said support and including an inner annular wallforming an inner chamber and having circumferentially spaced firstopenings and an outer annular wall forming an annular chambersurnounding said inner chamber and having circumferentially spacedsecond openings, said outer annular wall having a free lower annularedge forming an annular gap with said inner annular wall, and a top wallextending between the top edges of said annular inner and outer walls,and closing said annular chamber on top; a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced thread guides mounted on said lower annularedge of said outer annular wall below the same outwardly projecting fnomthe same; a lower housing portion supported on said support and havingan open upper end bounded by an upper annular edge located adjacent saidlower annular edge of said housing means for closing said outer annularchamber, said lower housing portion having a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced openings through which the outer portions ofsaid thread guides project, said housing means including a top wallextending between the upper annular edges of said inner and outerannular walls and closing said annular chamber on top, said top Wallhaving an annular portion outwardly projecting from said outer annularwall and having a curved downwardly and outwardly directed lowersurface; and blower means located within said inner chamber for blowingair outwardly through said first openings into said annular chamber andpast said lower annular edge and through said openings in said lowerhousing portion along said thread guides, and also through said secondopenings toward the outwardly projecting portions of said thread guidesand beyond the same, said outwardly projecting annular portion of saidtop wall guiding the air streams passing through said second openings indownward and outward directions so that dust produced by threads passingthrough said thread guides is blown away from the machine in outward anddownward directions.

7. A circuiar knitting machine as set forth in claim 6 wherein saidhousing means include a bottom wall closing one end of said innerchamber and secured to said support, an intermediate wall parallel tosaid bottom wall within said inner chamber connected to said annuiarinner wall, and a filter closing the ends of said inner chamber remotefrom said bottom wall; and wherein said blower means include a motormounted on said intermediate wall and located between the same and saidbottom wall, and a rotor located between said intermediate wall and saidfilter, said first openings being located in a portion of said innerannular wall in the region of said rotor.

8. A machine as set forth in claim 6 wherein said sup port is a hollowpost located in the main axis of the circular knitting machine, saidpost being hollow and adapted to enclose electric cables connected tosaid motor.

9. A circular knitting machine as set forth in claim 6 wherein saidsupport is a post located in the main axis of said circular knittingmachine and having an upper end supporting said housing means, and a.lower flange spaced from said upper end and supporting said lowerhousing portion, said lower housing portion having a bottom wall with acentral opening through which said post passes, the portion of saidbottom wall surrounding said central opening resting on said flange ofsaid post.

it). A circular knitting machine as set forth in claim 6, wherein saidfirst and second openings are circumferentially elongated slots.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,357,714 9/1944Vossen et al 66-168 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,273,557 9/1961 France.

702,987 1/ 1954 Great Britain. 118,940 11/1958 Russia.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT R. MACKEY, Examiner.

R. FELBAUM, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE INCLUDING A SUPPORT UPWARDLYPROJECTING AT THE TOP OF THE MACHINE, IN COMBINATION, HOUSING MEANSMOUNTED ON THE TOP OF SAID SUPPORT AND INCLUDING AN INNER ANNULAR WALLFORMING AN INNER CHAMBER OPEN ON TOP AND HAVING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACEDFIRST OPENINGS AND AN OUTER ANNULAR WALL FORMING AN ANNULAR CHAMBERSURROUNDING SAID INNER CHAMBER AND HAVING CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACEDSECOND OPENINGS; A PLURALITY OF CIRCUMFERENTIALLY SPACED THREAD GUIDESMOUNTED ON SAID OUTER ANNULAR WALL OUTWARDLY PROJECTING FROM THE SAME;AND BLOWER MEANS LOCATED WITHIN SAID INNER CHAMBER AND ADAPTED TO SUCKAIR FROM THE OPENINGS ON TOP OF SAID INNER CHAMBER AND TO DISCHARGE THEAIR ALONG THE ENTIRE CIRCUMFERENCE THEREOF THROUGH SAID FIRST OPENINGSINTO SAID ANNULAR CHAMBER AND THROUGH SAID SECOND OPENINGS AT SAIDOUTWARDLY PROJECTING THREAD GUIDES AND BEYOND THE SAME SO THAT DUSTPRODUCED BY THREADS PASSING THROUGH SAID THREAD GUIDES IS BLOWN AWAYFROM THE MACHINE IN OUTWARD DIRECTIONS.